EDMONTON -- A report says Alberta's public pension manager has lost millions on smaller energy companies at a time when the entire sector is in decline.

The analysis by the left-wing think thank Progress Alberta found that Alberta Investment Management Corporation, or AIMCo, has invested $1.1 billion in junior and intermediate oil and gas firms since 2016.

All of those companies have lost value and some have gone bankrupt despite the injection of tens of millions of pension dollars.

The report says those losses occurred well before the current COVID-19 crisis and oil price war.

Duncan Kinney, one of the authors of the report, says two-thirds of the money that AIMCo was supposed to use to create new jobs and diversify the economy has been spent in the oilpatch.

He points out that several companies that have received AIMCo money are heavy donors to Alberta's governing United Conservative Party.